Kitchen Quickies Archive

KITCHEN QUICKIES / Cooler weather means it’s hot and hearty comfort food time

By Larry Levine – I’m not a fan of winter. When the daytime temperature drops below 65, or it even looks like it might rain, I want to hibernate – lock the doors and windows and stay indoors. Like so many others, the reason I live in Los Angeles has a lot to do with [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Stuck for an idea? Pasta with shrimp and tomatoes to the rescue

By Larry Levine - I don’t recall it ever having happened before. I stood there just inside the entrance to Gelson’s Market with absolutely no idea of what I wanted to eat or cook for dinner. Usually, when I enter the market I have at least a vague notion of whether it will be chicken, fish, pork, or [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Fish Balls (and no smart A#! remarks)

FISH BALLS OK. Go ahead. Get the smart a#! remarks out of your system. If halibut and beef have cheeks, if chickens have fingers, if pork has tenders, why can’t fish have balls? Meat has balls, so why not fish? In a Jewish household it’s called gefilte fish; the French call them quenelles; restaurants around [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Shrimp & Scallops Chow Mein

By Larry Levine - Before I was released from the hospital after my quadruple coronary bypass surgery in 2008 I was told, among other things, to stay out of Chinese recipes because of the high sodium content of the food. Chinese food had been a favorite of mine since our family spent many Sunday nights [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Poached Salmon

By Larry Levine - The season for great, northwest wild caught salmon is just around the corner. I’m in Issaquah Washington as I write this and two nights ago our son John prepared a wonderful dinner of troll caught white king salmon on a bed of a spinach salad. He cooked the salmon the parchment [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Chicken Fricassee

By Larry Levine - Sometimes something magic happens to an old recipe. I’ve been making chicken fricassee at home for decades. Recently I made a mistake at the super market and bought a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of just plain old Roma tomatoes. I didn’t realize my mistake until I was well [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Linguini with shrimp

By Larry Levine - Whoever invented pasta, shrimp and tomatoes must have had a 9 to 5 job. Give me a nice fresh tomato, some jumbo shrimp and a pantry well stocked with pastas and other basics and I can walk in the door and have you sitting down to eat in a flash. For [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – London Broil

By Larry Levine - When Jennifer and I both were working and our two sons were in school, dinners in a rush were a way of life. If one of the boys got home before us we would ask that they turn the meat in the marinade when they got home and take it out [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Jennifer’s Baked Spaghetti with Garden Sauce

By Larry Levine - Jennifer doesn’t like to cook. However, early in our marriage, while I was working to establish myself in a new career and our two sons were not yet in school full time, Jennifer did most of the cooking. It was during that time that she developed this recipe based on something [...]
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KITCHEN QUICKIES – Pasta Piselli

By Michelle Reynolds - This is a simple pasta dish that you can have ready and on the table in 20 to 30 minutes. It’s a very common primi piatti in Italian-American households. The choice of pasta is important because you want the pasta to be similar in size to the peas. Ditalini, conchigliette, or [...]
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